8of9Pedestrians walk across the international bridge from Eagle Pass to Piedras Negras, MX as a train makes the same trip, on Thursday, April 28, 2016.Photo: Bob Owen, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

9of9Trucks come in from Mexico (left) and big rigs leave the U.S. at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo in October. Nearly 14,000 trucks pass through the checkpoint every day, officials said at the time.Photo: Kin Man Hui /San Antonio Express-News

WASHINGTON — Preparing for an uncertain future for trade with Mexico, Texans in Congress are racing to enable cities and businesses to provide unlimited financial support for customs agents in order to reduce backups in the flow of goods and people across the border.

Three years ago, Congress approved pilot projects that have yielded more than two dozen such arrangements for public and private financing of overtime and other support for chronically understaffed Customs and Border Protection.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and allies have sought without success to greatly expand the so-called partnerships.

Now, that bipartisan effort has taken on new urgency with the pending arrival of a Trump administration and the likelihood of new scrutiny of foreign trade and changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, noting the “loose talk on trade” in the presidential campaign, last week engineered passage of the Senate’s version of the legislation.

But with only a week to go in this Congress and a crowded calendar, House passage is uncertain.

“If you have private and public sources who want to come in and help with this problem, then we should let them do it,” said Cuellar, House sponsor of the legislation.

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, is pressing the House GOP leadership to put the legislation on a list of bills that can be passed before adjournment.

“This is a big deal,” Hurd said. “You get legitimate goods and services back and forth faster. In a tight federal resources environment, you have to work with the private sector and municipalities to meet the needs.”

The legislation enables nonfederal entities to pay for expenses of full-time personnel as well as overtime, covering services that range from customs and agricultural processing to border security and transportation. Bills also remove obstacles to paying for border facilities.

Under pilot projects, companies have financed construction of cooling buildings to protect produce that might be threatened by delays.

In an effort to speed hiring of border agents, a provision was inserted waiving requirements for polygraphs for military veterans. A Homeland Security Committee report accompanying the legislation noted that fewer than half of the 2,000 new CBP officers authorized two years ago have been hired.

El Paso is among the border cities that has taken full advantage of the initial service agreements, reimbursing CBP more than $3 million from money collected through tolls. But the city says the return on its investment has been 10 to 1 for commercial traffic, not counting increased Mexican shopping that makes up 15 percent of the city’s retail sales.

Sam Vale, whose company owns the Starr-Camargo International Bridge at Rio Grande City, is part of a consortium that includes 12 international bridges and is a supporter of the legislation. He recalled an agreement to pay for extra staff during especially busy hours that reduced waits from four hours to one.

“It’s not that anybody in Texas would be in favor of paying what the federal government should, by all rights, fund themselves. But when we have the choice of no business or reduced business or bellying up to the bar and putting down our coins, we’ll do the latter,” he said.

Russ Jones, chairman of the Arizona-based Border Trade Alliance, said CBP staff shortages are causing delays along the Canadian border as well as on the border with Mexico. He noted especially heavy traffic at Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York.

“Anything related to trade right now gets sort of a jaundiced eye with regard to NAFTA and TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership),” he said. “But this is about best practices and improving trade and cross-border travel.”